irritability

Noun

irritability (countable and uncountable, plural irritabilities)

1. The state or quality of being irritable; quick excitability.
   • irritability of temper
   • Blue No. 1 and yellow No. 6 may also be toxic to some human cells. And as little as 1 milligram of yellow dye No. 5 may cause irritability, restlessness and sleep disturbances for sensitive children.2025 March 29, Kristen Rogers, “Over half of US states are trying to eliminate food dyes. Here’s what you can do now”, in CNN

   Synonyms:

   petulance, fretfulness

2. A natural susceptibility, characteristic of all living organisms, tissues, and cells, to the influence of certain stimuli, response being manifested in a variety of ways.
   • We find a renitency in ourselves to ascribe life and irritability to the cold and motionless fibres of plants.1800, Erasmus Darwin, Phytologia, Or the Philosophy of Agriculture and Gardening
   • There is growth only in plants; but there is irritability, or, a better word, instinctivity, in insects.1830 September 23, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Logic”, in H[enry] N[elson] C[oleridge], editor, Specimens of the Table Talk of the Late Samuel Taylor Coleridge. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […]...
3. A condition of morbid excitability of an organ or part of the body; undue susceptibility to the influence of stimuli.